One Book, One Calgary has Calgarians reading together

One Book, One Calgary, an initiative by the Calgary Public Library, just wrapped up its third annual ‘book club’ program with an astounding 2,000 Calgarians checking in as having read The Book of Awesome.

The One Book program chooses one book each year for Calgarians to read and discuss together.

The book club is accompanied by a variety of programs and events all tied to the book’s theme.

This year’s choice, The Book of Awesome by Canadian author Neil Pasricha, was chosen to celebrate some of Calgary’s awesome qualities, and the awesomeness of the Calgary Public Library for their centennial.

Previous books chosen for the initiative were Mavericks and The Cellist of Sarajevo. The library is now taken suggestions for next year’s One Book at their website, www.onebookonecalgary.com

This year, the One Book initiative became a little more official.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi signed a proclamation declaring November the month of One Book, One Calgary. He even attended the library’s opening event on Nov. 2 to speak about Calgary’s ‘awesome-ness’ and discuss his own love of the library.

The events held as part of the program weren’t all about books.

Everything from Dragon’s Den style business grants, cooking classes, yoga sessions, mini-sculpture making, and lectures covering topics as diverse as social media and the city’s history were all held free of charge at different library locations across Calgary.

The public library’s central location also set up a community art wall. On the south section of the branch’s main floor, library patrons had the opportunity to create and submit art centering on the theme of how awesome Calgary is.

The events were open for a variety of people, with workshops for everyone from kids to seniors being held on different days.

Notable Calgarians participated as well, with poet laureate Kris Demeanor, popular local chefs, robotics expert Ben Reed, and social media guru Lonnie Taylor all hosting talks on their areas of expertise.

The month was wrapped up with a talk from the University of Calgary’s Dr. Patrick Finn.

Finn drew from his previous talks for One Book, One Calgary to give a talk on happiness in Calgary.

He discussed why Calgarians are so creative and happy, and what we can do to become even more awesome. The John Dutton Theatre, located upstairs in the Central Library, was packed with about 50 happy attendees, who chatted with Finn during the reception after his presentation.

The Calgary Public Library will be holding their next annual One Book, One Calgary for November, 2013.

Stop by their website to suggest next year’s book and leave them a comment with what you think is awesome about Calgary at www.onebookonecalgary.com.

— Sarah Pynoo

As a writing and communications major in the journalism program at SAIT, Sarah Pynoo worked as a reporter for The Press during the 2012-2013 academic year.